


The Lake House

by soul_writerr



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Anniversary, Flirting, Fluff, Hammocks, Happy, Idiots in Love, M/M, Making Out, Married Barisi, Rest & Relaxation, Romance, Romantic Getaway, Sappy, Swimming, lake house
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26085901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soul_writerr/pseuds/soul_writerr
Summary: Coming here had been Sonny’s idea, of course. Rafael wasn’t exactly known for spontaneous exploitations of nature, but it’d only taken Sonny about half an hour (and an added side of a pouty look with a sweet “please?”) to convince Rafael to escape the big city with him.A long weekend in a lake house, just the two of them and a fridge full, Sonny had said. He’d shown a couple pictures of the house with its dark wood panelling, mood lighting and adjacent dock, plus a huge four poster bed that called for an afternoon nap, and Rafael was sold.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 26
Kudos: 75





	The Lake House

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Robyfox2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Robyfox2/gifts).



> This one goes out to Roby. It was just his birthday last week, and he's been an absolute angel to me from the very beginning, back when I was still new in the fandom. To this day he still leaves me the nicest comments, and he's always a huge support. So thank you so much, my dear. I hope you enjoy this.
> 
> And also thanks to Sarah for going with this idea when I mentioned I wanted to write something inspired by Taylor Swift's song "The Lakes". Here it is!

“Holy fuck!,” Sonny exclaimed from the living room. “Raf, you gotta come see this.”

Rafael stuffed the two tubes of ice cream they’d brought into the tiny freezer and closed the fridge door with a mindless thud, already looking over his shoulder at Sonny. His husband was walking backwards, away from the window, as he looked out. 

He’d opened the shutters all the way, and the window framed the outside view like a painting. Rafael rounded the kitchen island and stood a step behind Sonny, watching the scenery with amazement. 

Somehow, the sky looked different here. Maybe it was the lack of skyscrapers or the unpolluted air, but the clouds were low, painted like brush strokes with a perfect outline in a pure shade of pearly white against the bright  _ sapphire _ of the canvas. He’d never seen anything quite like this.

Even though Rafael’s favorite shade of blue would forever be the one in Sonny’s eyes, that sky was definitely worth a step back and a long moment of appraisal. 

The lake itself was a silver blade of light, twinkling under the sun, a long expanse of water that went on and on, as far as his eye could see. It was calm, quiet, and it moved slowly with the wind. Rafael wondered if the water would feel cold or if it’d be warm to the touch. 

The both of them stood there, side by side, watching the framed sky change gradually, the cool breeze blowing the clouds away and bringing new ones in. Sonny wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him against his side, and Rafael looked from the window to his handsome face, admiring the way his beautiful eyes reflected back the sights.

A couple minutes went by as they stood in silence, then Sonny turned to look at him and smiled. Rafael lifted up on his tippy-toes to press his mouth to Sonny’s in a tender, soft touch that made him sigh. 

Coming here had been Sonny’s idea, of course. Rafael wasn’t exactly known for spontaneous exploitations of nature, but it’d only taken Sonny about half an hour (and an added side of a pouty look with a sweet “please?”) to convince Rafael to escape the big city with him.

A long weekend in a lake house, just the two of them and a fridge full, Sonny had said. He’d shown a couple pictures of the house with its dark wood panelling, mood lighting and adjacent dock, plus a huge four poster bed that called for an afternoon nap, and Rafael was sold.

It was their first anniversary, and Rafael couldn’t imagine a better way to celebrate than having Sonny all to himself in a luxurious house, beautiful scenery surrounding them, and all the food they could bare to eat.

“I think I’m gonna take my camera out and explore, you wanna come?,” Sonny asked in a soft breath between them. The world around them was so quiet that speaking above a whisper was as loud as yelling.

Rafael shook his head. “That hammock is calling my name,” he said, tilting his chin at the window, where the lone hammock on the porch was blowing in the wind. “I brought that thriller I’ve been meaning to read, so all I need is a drink and I’m set.”

“Fair,” Sonny chuckled, pecking him on the lips before stepping away from his embrace. “We can watch the sunset together later.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Rafael smiled.

Sonny grabbed his camera from his overnight bag and went out to explore their surroundings with an awed expression. The joyous youth on his face always refreshed Rafael.

Once Sonny was out of his line of sight, Rafael took his book from one of his bags and went onto the porch. He looked at the still waters for a moment, hearing nothing but his own breathing. A couple birds flew up above his head, chirping and flapping their wings. He’d never realized how  _ loud  _ those actions could be before. 

Rafael set his book in the hammock and went inside to grab a drink. They’d brought a brand new bottle of Scotch, but he didn’t want to start drinking it without Sonny, so instead he filled a glass with orange juice. For good measure, he also grabbed a pack of salted pretzels. 

Armed and ready, Rafael returned to the hammock and set his refreshment on the floor beside it before sitting. It hung considerably low and he could reach everything without struggle, so he settled in and opened his book.

The book started off with a child being kidnapped, so Rafael was suddenly dead to the outside world. The intricacies of the story grabbed him and it was much too easy to get sucked in when everything around him was so silent and still, free of distractions. He lost track of time, and he was well into page 65 when he landed back on Earth, pulled back by the click of a shutter going off twice.

He looked up to catch Sonny pointing his camera at him, the object doing nothing to hide his charming smile even as he took a third picture. 

Rafael chuckled lightly. “You caught me unprepared,” he said, dog-earing the page and closing the book.

“You look so good, I wanted to capture it,” Sonny said, finally lowering his camera, but not dropping his smile.

“Flatterer,” Rafael tutted.

“How’s the book?”

“I think this is what Stephen King would write if his books were thrillers instead of horrors,” he reflected, looking down at the cover. “I don’t know whether to expect a supernatural twist at some point, which makes it harder to figure out who the kidnapper is.” 

“And that’s half the fun,” Sonny said, walking up the two steps into the porch and eyeing Rafael. “You think there’s space for me in there?” 

Rafael looked up at the hinge that held the hammock to the wall. “I think it can hold your noodly limbs.”

Sonny chuckled. “You like my noodly limbs.”

Rafael shifted and set one foot on the ground to open space for Sonny to sit. “I  _ love _ all your noodly bits.”

“Junior loves you too, Raf,” Sonny teased with a giggle, carefully setting his camera beside Rafael’s forgotten snack. 

“You mean Junior Jr.?"

Sonny rolled his eyes, settling against Rafael’s chest. “You really gotta say that every time?”

“Every time you call your dick  _ Junior _ , yes,” he laughed. 

“Anyway,” Sonny said pointedly, sighing happily. “It’s beautiful back there, Raf, we should go for a walk tomorrow morning.”

Rafael hummed, mildly interested. “Good thing I packed my running shoes.”

“You packed enough to meet the Queen of England.”

“I like to be prepared.”

“But was the suit really necessary?,” Sonny asked, turning his neck to look over at him. “It’s just us.” 

Rafael wrapped an arm around him. “What if we decided to go for a fancy dinner up in town?”

“I don’t think anywhere in this little town requires a suit, Raf.” 

“Then I guess I won’t need it,” he huffed.

Sonny laughed lightly, reaching for his camera again. Rafael heard the beeps and clicks as he went through the pictures, catching a glimpse of a few from over his shoulder. Sonny had photographed a lot of flowers somewhere, and the lake was even wider than Rafael had first imagined.

“You know, Raf, we’re gonna have many more anniversaries after this first,” Sonny started, zooming into one of the pictures he’d taken of Rafael on the hammock. “But it’s gonna be hard to top this one.” 

“I know,” Rafael smiled, kissing the top of his head. “We can certainly try, though.”

“Yeah,” he set the camera aside again, relaxing in Rafael’s embrace. “Read to me?”

“It’s not exactly a light bedtime story, Sonny. It’s actually a little grim.”

Sonny half-shrugged, jostling Rafael. “I just like the sound of your voice.” 

Rafael should have guessed that Sonny would end up falling asleep on him, but it took less than five pages for him to start snoring softly. If they were back home, Rafael probably wouldn’t even be able to hear it with the volume of noise coming from the street, but here he could make out all the soft sighs, mumbles and grumbles of his sleeping husband.

He stopped reading out loud so not to disturb Sonny, using his foot that was still set on the floor to sway the hammock gently under them, and soon he lost track of time again. Even though the sound of the pages turning seemed loud enough to wake Sonny up, he didn’t move for half an hour.

Rafael had just reached page 100 when Sonny tried to turn on his side, but was trapped by Rafael’s thighs, and woke up with a confused noise. Sonny lifted his head from Rafael’s chest, looking around with urgency before his shoulders sagged and he relaxed again.

“Nice nap?,” Rafael asked. 

Sonny looked up at him, blinking sleep out of his eyes. “It was pretty great,” he pressed a kiss on Rafael’s sternum. “I think I reached a level in my REM cycle I’ve never gotten before. I had a dream we were mermaids. Well, mermen.”

Rafael laughed. “Oh my God, I would love to see what that would look like.”

“You looked pretty hot,” Sonny said with a lopsided smile.

“I think you’re a little biased,” he leaned in to peck him on the lips. “What color was my tail, though?”

“Oh, the most beautiful emerald green, all sparkly,” Sonny giggled. “Matched your eyes.”

Rafael hummed. “Well, I’m not too mad about that. I can take a guess that yours was blue, then?”

“Yeah, boring,” he pulled a face. “Like sky blue.”

“That’s not boring,” Rafael brushed their noses together lightly and leaned back to look into Sonny’s eyes. “It’s beautiful.”

Sonny cut the space between them again to kiss him, a full, heated kiss that made Rafael involuntarily moan against his lips. His husband shifted to his side without breaking the kiss, using his height advantage to cover Rafael’s body with his and control their kiss. 

Rafael’s toes curled in pleasure and he was only half aware of the hammock swinging languidly with the way Sonny moved on top of him. He dropped his book on the floor so he’d have both hands free to roam, one burying in Sonny’s hair and the other sneaking under his shirt, wrapping around his waist.

They’d been together for five years, this being their first wedding anniversary, and they’d had a few handfuls of experiences together, but making out in a hammock was definitely something new and exciting. 

Sonny somehow managed to sneak a hand under Rafael’s shirt, and his thumb was going back and forth over his nipple. He shivered under the touch, gripping Sonny tighter as he sucked on Rafael’s tongue shamelessly. 

Rafael moaned again, and he was very much aware of how loud he was being, but there was no one else around, and for every enthusiastic response Sonny doubled up his effort as a reward, so he allowed himself to freely express his gratitude for the man in his arms.

The hand that was under Rafael’s shirt sneaked down his body, and he threw his head back in a gasp when he felt Sonny undoing his shorts. 

Rafael opened his eyes to darkness.

“Oh,” he gasped again, but in surprise this time.

He lifted his head to look at the horizon. There was only a red sliver of sun left, rapidly being swallowed by the grandiosity of the night sky. 

Sonny picked up on his surprise and looked in the same direction as Rafael. “Ah, we missed it,” he pouted.

“We can try again tomorrow”, Rafael panted.

“Yeah,” he said mischievously, nipping Rafael’s bottom lip. “I’m pretty happy where I am right now.” 

“How about we go shower, uh?,” Rafael suggested, grabbing Sonny’s wrist before he pulled his zipper down. “Together.”

Sonny’s eyes darkened, and he immediately threw his long legs off to the side of the hammock and stood up. “Let’s go.”

Rafael laughed, accepting Sonny’s helping hand. 

“We can have dinner and play some games after,” Sonny was saying as he pulled him into the house and up the stairs. “I think I saw a deck of cards on the coffee table and a box of puzzles upstairs.” 

“Mmmhm, I love dirty talk,” Rafael joked, and then his world spun when Sonny pulled him in then pushed him against a wall.

“I’ll show you some dirty talk,” he said gravely, and Rafael almost started praying.

* * *

Rafael stepped outside and onto the dock once he spotted Sonny. The air was fresh, and the sun was breaking through the horizon, bright beams of sunshine going in all directions. The darkness of the night was giving way to a golden light that painted the lake with sprinkles of yellow and blue as it rose. 

Sonny looked over his shoulder as Rafael approached and smiled at him. He had his feet in the water, swinging it around and causing small waves to disrupt the otherwise quiet surface.

“Hey,” Sonny greeted, and his voice sounded as rough as if he’d just woken up. “Sorry, I was gonna come back to bed after this,” he turned back to look at the rising sun. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Rafael smiled at his husband. “It’s gorgeous.” 

Sonny sighed, dreamy and pleased. “I know yesterday I said it’d be hard to top this next year, but what if we don’t try to top it? What if we make it our tradition to come here every year?” 

Rafael took a seat beside him, his legs hanging off the porch like Sonny’s. He couldn’t quite reach as deep, but even still the touch of the water on his toes wasn’t as cold as he expected. 

“I wouldn’t be opposed to that,” he said, bumping their shoulders together. “I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever been so relaxed. It’s so quiet and slow here.” 

“I know what you mean,” Sonny nodded, taking his hand in his and squeezing. “I just— I really love this.” 

“You know I still wanna see Paris, and I know you want to visit your grandparents’ hometown in Italy,” Rafael said, and Sonny shot him a dimpled grin. “But we can do that on our regular vacation, and come here for our anniversary.” 

“I’ll go anywhere with you,” he leaned in. “I love you.” 

Rafael closed his eyes when Sonny started brushing their noses together gently. “I love you, too,” he breathed between them, then kissed him.

Sonny’s hand came up to cup his jaw, and he tilted his head for a better angle. Sonny deepened the kiss, but Rafael pulled back when the warmth of the sun touched his skin.

“You wanna miss the sunrise the way you missed the sunset yesterday?,” he teased. 

“Not my fault my husband is such a distraction,” Sonny winked, then wrapped an arm around Rafael’s waist and pulled him closer.

“You flirt.” 

Rafael settled against him and they watched the sun come up, unhurried and impossibly bright. The sky changed from yellow to orange, then paled again as the sun broke through and took over the sky. It was a beautiful view, and the world was silent as it happened.

The birds started their choir of chirps once the sun fully revealed itself, and a nice breeze picked up through the trees behind them. Despite the heat of the sunshine on their skin, the wind cooled their faces and blew their hairs up and away. 

Sonny pressed a kiss to Rafael’s shoulder and hugged him tighter. Rafael tried to stifle a yawn, but it eventually escaped. Sonny chuckled, shaking his head amusedly.

“I don’t know what’s so funny, you got me out of bed before 7am,” Rafael grumbled.

“You came out here before having your coffee, uh?,” Sonny teased. “You know what’d be better at waking you up? Some skinny-dipping.”

Rafael glared at him with a raised eyebrow. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with my dick just swishing around in unfamiliar waters.”

Sonny let out a short laugh. “Keep your underwear, then.”

“Or I could go inside and change into my swimming trunks.” 

“That’s no fun.”

Rafael looked at his husband, his eyes sparkling with boyish glee again, and let out a defeated sigh. “Okay, fine.” 

Sonny quickly got up and pulled his pajamas off, setting them aside but keeping his underwear. “Let me go in first, I have no idea how deep this is.”

Before Rafael could protest and tell him to use the ladder to the side of the porch, Sonny hopped off and into the water, making a big splash that wetted Rafael’s hoodie - well, it was Sonny’s hoodie, actually, but it got chilly during the night and it was the first thing he’d found in their bags.

Sonny emerged with a big grin. “I can just touch the ground here,” he said. “You can actually swim, right?”

Rafael rolled his eyes, pulling off the hoodie. “Yes, Sonny.”

“No, but I mean  _ really  _ swim, Raf,” Sonny insisted. “Not the way you say you can’t sing when you actually can.” 

“I can swim,” Rafael repeated, but prefered to take the ladder instead of jumping in. “I spent most of my summers in Miami growing up.” 

“I know,” Sonny said amusedly. “But you told me you were an ‘indoor type of kid’.”

Once the water reached his waist Rafael let go and pushed off the ladder, swimming towards Sonny with no struggle. He showed off a little, wide and long strokes cutting into the water, just to shut Sonny up.

“But I always liked swimming,” he said, chin out. He didn’t feel the ground under his feet, but he could very much keep himself above the surface. 

“Okay,” Sonny grinned at him, grabbing Rafael’s arm and pulling him closer. “Have you ever made out under water?”

Rafael laughed. “Are you trying to drown? Because despite what people say, I am actually too young to be a widower.”

“No, I’m not,” Sonny wrapped both his arms around Rafael’s waist, and Rafael responded by wrapping his around Sonny’s neck. “I’m just trying to get my kissing on.”

“Ridiculous,” he rolled his eyes. Their legs got tangled together under the water momentarily, so Sonny grabbed him by the thighs and Rafael wrapped his legs around his hips. “No koala jokes.” 

“But you’re grabbing onto me like a little baby koala,” Sonny said, laughing. 

“Okay, so I won’t be a widower because we’re actually getting a divorce before that.”

Sonny laughed louder, throwing his head back, full of mirth. Rafael’s heart pounded in his chest at the sight, so unrestrained and pure. He could swear he was falling in love with Sonny all over again in that moment. His legs tightened around him reflexively as Sonny’s happiness echoed all around them. 

“Well, at least we lasted a year,” Sonny said, still smiling brightly. The sun was shining on his hair, and the grey strands turned golden. 

“We did,” Rafael couldn’t deny the infectious effect Sonny’s obvious joy had on him, from the sparkle in his eyes to his dimpled grin. “One year of being Mr. and Mr. Barba-Carisi.” 

Sonny leaned in to peck him on the lips. “I can’t wait for another one.”

“I can’t wait for 10 more,” Rafael said, and Sonny spun them around in the water with a happy cry. Rafael laughed and held on tight. 

**Author's Note:**

> You know, when I was writing this I asked myself "what even is the point of this fic?" and truly I just wanted Sonny and Rafael to sit back and relax and make out, so there it is. 
> 
> I have a couple ideas to turn this into a series, but let's see what happens! MWAH don't forget to leave some kudos if you liked this *wink*


End file.
